Multi organ failure following intravenous gasoline for suicide:A case report

Abstract

Hydrocarbons are ubiquitous in daily life and include plant and animal fats, alcohols, solvents, natural gas, petroleum derivates. Majority of intoxication reports of hydrocarbons are due to inhalation or ingestion, but there is few reports about intravenous injection of gasoline. We report a 58 year-old man who injected gasoline intravenously for suicide. He developed soft tissue necrosis of forearm and bilateral pulmonary infiltration. He underwent fasciotomy and extensive debridement of necrotic tissues, at the operation room. He was intubated and mechanically ventilated because of acute lung injury. He developed acute kidney injury after 2 days. These symptoms seem to be due to extravasation of gasoline from vessels which lead to inflammation, cell damage and organ failure. The patient developed multi organ failure which unfortunately did not respond to our treatment and he died at day 21. Management of gasoline intoxication depends on the rout of exposure. Like other types of toxications, intravenous toxication has pulmonary involvement, however in this case we had multiple organ involvement. It seems that in such cases we should consider early end organ targeted therapy to stop the future organ failure. © 2012 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.